The Mark of the Seal
by LadyMononoke756
Summary: She would never understand why Hinata was the one who screamed and fainted when the ceremony was done. Just as she would never know that her sister had switched the powders for the ceremony so the seal on her forehead was a powerless scar. Hanabi, Hinata
1. the mark

As she lay on the field broken, with blood and dirt smeared across her face and rain beating down, Hanabi hated to admit it but she knew that she had fallen.

At one time she had been among the best, ranked in the top three genin in her age group and then in the top five chunin in the city when she was fourteen, but now her peers had surpassed her—and she hated herself for it.

She could see the bone of her wrist jutting out of her skin from the corner of her eye and knew that she would be out of commission for a week and probably unable to use her wrist at all for a month. Worse, she saw Taiga Inuzuka take a hit without being able to do anything about it and watched as Akira Natsume delivered the finishing blow to the final opponent. At one time, she would have been the one to do it.

Hanabi tried to move, to drag herself off the field at least, but she knew she would have to be carried. She realized with equal distaste that she would have to be treated by her sister when she got home and that Hinata would worry, Neji would fix her with a steely critical gaze and her father wouldn't even look at her.

It was painfully clear to her what her rank was and she didn't have to be reminded. She had fallen four rank places, all the way to 18th strongest in the city—and that was not acceptable to her family. A dark look crossed her face just thinking about it and she wondered for a moment why she had condemned herself to such a miserable existence, but then she remembered, and she understood perfectly well.

Hanabi remembered her sister's tear streaked face when Hinata asked why she'd done it.

"I did it for you of course," and they both knew it perfectly well. It had always been a matter of time before one of them was to be marked. The day before Hinata was to undergo the sealing ceremony, Hanabi volunteered herself instead, putting down objections by vigorously defending the historical right of the first born. She took her sister's place on the platform and asked Hinata to do the sealing for her. Hanabi sat calmly and watched as Hinata laid the ink and powdered design of the seal on the floor and performed the hand seals that would carve her fate onto her forehead.

Throughout the searing pain all she ever did was narrow her eyes and wince until it was over. She didn't understand why Hinata was the one who screamed watching her and fainted when the ceremony was done. Just as she would not understand until later that her sister had switched the powders for the ceremony so the seal on her forehead was a powerless scar. Hinata knew that Hanabi had prepared her heart for a life of sacrifice and servitude but she wanted to leave her sister a way out if it all became impossible to bare.

Unbeknownst to Hinata, the day Hanabi decided to give her the position of heir, Hanabi also accepted a much greater burden than the mark of the seal: the burden of living only to serve the clan, without the luxury of a purpose for herself. When she abandoned her position of power, Hanabi became a pawn to be mobilized as the Hyuuga saw fit. In order to serve the needs of the family she would have to give up her entire being. Her future did not belong to her anymore and her talent existed to serve the clan.

Being second in the line of succession meant she was now a political bargaining chip, and with that new status the pressure to do well actually increased. Her family expected her to excel in order to attract a strong match, one that would strengthen the clan and whose blood would ensure that succeeding generations of Hyuuga would be even stronger. From now on, the elders would treat her as part of the on-going eugenics project to make the advanced bloodline of the clan even stronger.

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Author note: written on a whim, ask for more if you want more.

In case your confused about why Hinata took the seal and gave Hanabi the mark instead of just faking the whole thing without giving anyone the seal: in my mind once the ceremony is in place one of them has to get the seal no matter what. If you screw with the process to much the power intended to go into the seal will get displaced somewhere else and hurt some innocent bystander.


	2. the reflection

When the fight was over Taiga was able to pick himself up and his dogs, Kuromaru and Shiromaru, licked him and then nudged him onto Kuromaru's back. When Shiromaru was satisfied that her master was alright she paded over to Hanabi and began to nudge her into a better position and sniff Hanabi's blood for traces of poison. Akira headed over to help her as well as soon as he had finished looting the corpses for weapons and collecting the weapons thrown or dropped during the fight. His clan was poor and this was how they acquired most of their supplies.

When Akira picked her up she felt him silently slip the kunai she had thrown back into her holster.

They both knew that Hanabi was ashamed to have to be helped off the field.

The three headed quickly back towards Konoha but stopped briefly at a lake in the forest to wash out their wounds. Hanabi caught a glimpse of herself in the water. She was broken and bloody but the light drizzle was slowly washing off the blood and dirt from the battle. She stared at herself for a moment, her forehead was bare and the mark was perfectly clean. Even when the scar was fresh she had never covered it. In a strange way, she had been proud of it; proud of herself for having found the courage to accept it and proud of her sister for having steeled herself to carve it.

Hanabi examined her reflection for a moment. The seal looked tiny; the whole thing was about the size of her thumb, much smaller than it should be. The mark was meant to take up the entire length of the forehead, it was a declaration of subservience, but Hinata had drawn the seal as small as she could without messing up the design. Hanabi remembered when the scar was fresh.

For the first few days she had fingered it to see if it was really there.

She had refused to scream, to move an inch or look anything but clam and rigid in the ceremony, but her entire body had screamed in protest and she still felt the all consuming pain for days after. Every step that she took made her want to collapse but she had refused to rest and had insisted on moving her personal belongings to the branch house immediately.

She didn't have much, just a weeks worth of training clothes, some books, and the scrolls she had managed to copy from the main house library over the years in preparation for a day when she would no longer have access to them. She had planned all along to be the one to take the seal but it had taken years to work up the courage to make it reality.

She found that life in the branch house suited her. It was everything she had expected it to be, a Spartan and austere lifestyle. Everything was simple, clean, and minimalist; and everyone had an air of lethal efficiency.

On the day of her sealing the main house had wasted no time making use of its new servant. Hanabi was put to work right after the ceremony and ironically, she had been sent to go shopping for medical supplies. She had walked through the village with her forehead bare. It was a sensory shock to anyone who saw her and some people had to turn away. A few mothers had shielded their children's eyes and shot venomous glances at Hanabi. "Don't they give you something to cover that?" one woman had spat.

The news that Hinata was to get the seal had spread through the village quickly the day before but Hanabi had kept her own decision to herself. After she made her appearance rumors had spread just as quickly. Among them were stories that Hinata had run away, the Hyuuga hadn't been able to bring themselves to accept a second-born as head, or that the ceremony had gone horribly wrong and the present seal on Hanabi was divine judgement.

Nobody had thought of the truth and Hanabi wasn't going to correct them unless they asked. Her sister was well loved. People were either of the opinion that Hinata deserved to be head because she was a victim and Hanabi was evil because she was the stronger child that never suffered rejection, or that Hanabi was stronger but Hinata should stay in the main house until she had a chance to prove herself over her bratty evil sister. No one advocated Hinata's sealing and very few people were sorry to see Hanabi get it instead. She heard "It's about time," and "the bitch deserved it," whispered and muttered under breaths as she made her way to the medical supply depot.

The first person who had asked her what happened was Kiba. He was filled with such tense worry for his teammate that he didn't even realize this would be the first time he spoke to her sister.

"Hinata is fine and she's still in the city," Hanabi had answered concisely. Kiba had breathed a sigh of relief but had the decency to look embarrassed when he realized he had basically conveyed that he was glad of her imprisonment as long as her sister was untouched. He opened his mouth to apologize but Hanabi smiled and held up her hand to spare him the awkward conciliation that would ensue. She had then elegantly excused herself and went on her way, facing more whispered abuse as she went.


	3. the hospital

Much to her chagrin, Hanabi had not been wrong. She was told she would have to stay in the hospital for at least a week, which was the shortest amount of time it would take for the medics to patch together her splintered wrist, leg and ribs. Hinata did worry (just as she had predicted), and brought Hanabi ointment when she visited her everyday. During those visits very little was said. Nothing had to be spoken between them since they had both made the greatest possible sacrifice for the other. Hanabi had given up her life, her freedom and her title. Hinata had given up her ability to be equal with her sister and the fight to make sure neither of them would be sealed. Hinata was racked with guilt everyday of her life but she found comfort in the pain she felt when the seal of a branch house member was activated nearby.

They rarely said anything to each other that was not related to official developments and clan news and even then they tread softly and said little. Hinata hated talking about clan developments because she always felt—knew—she was speaking down to her sister; informing her of decisions made without her that would affect her life. Hinata couldn't bring herself to deliver what she considered to be the worst news to her sister. She knew that Hanabi had never wanted to marry, never wanted to bare children but that she had effectively given up the rights to her body when she accepted the mark of the seal. Hinata tried to think of a way to break the news softly but Hanabi never wanted bad news delivered with a cushion. She couldn't think of how to say it so she sent someone who she knew would get to the point.

She sent Neji to tell Hanabi the news. It was his only visit to the hospital and he did indeed fix her with his steely gaze as he delivered the news, just as Hanabi had known he would. Hanabi met his eyes and didn't look away. She understood his hard look. It had gone into effect right after she had decided to be sealed. He loved her like a little sister, the way he never had Hinata, and he didn't want her to suffer. He was angry at her for bending to tradition instead of fighting her fate and he was mad because he couldn't do anything to protect her. He hated to be with her now because she never covered the ugly mark on her head. It reminded him his own, and the fact that not one second born child had escaped it. She looked away first.

"There are marriage negotiations concerning you in progress," he said. "You don't turn nineteen for another two years, so it is only in the betrothal stage but there are four offers." Neji waited for her reaction. Anyone in the room would've felt the disdain rolling off her in waves, but her face only betrayed the barest distaste.

"There was a fifth offer from Kumogakure but that wasn't even considered for obvious reasons. Proposals being looked at seriously include ones from: Suna, the Inuzuka and the Uchiha. The family of the Kazekage is interested in cementing a political alliance with Konoha after the last…incident. They want to marry one of the old clans of Konoha and you are the strongest kunoichi among them. The Uchiha, has always been interested in his own eugenics project to rebuild his clan and the elders think it would be beneficial to our posterity to bind our bloodlines again into one clan. As for the Inuzuka, he asked your father for your hand in marriage."

There was nothing to betray it, but Hanabi could hear a raised eyebrow in his statement. She was as confused as he was. All she managed to get out was: "Taiga? Why?" This was totally out of character for her teammate; and it especially absurd since he had just come out of the closet to her earlier this month.

"Actually it was his cousin," Neji replied, "Kiba."

That was more understandable, but "Shouldn't he be proposing to my sister?" she asked.

"The elders were hoping so. The abilities they're interested in acquiring are based on senses. The clan head has to marry to a clan within the city, so a marriage between Hinata and an Inuzuka would be ideal; with a few more branch level marriages to the Inuzuka, heightened hearing and smell could be integrated into our bloodline within three generations."

His answer didn't tell her anything she didn't already know and he most likely knew it wasn't helpful, but it wasn't in his nature to admit he didn't have an answer. Still, she couldn't resist a sarcastic remark, "thanks for answering," she shot back with a smirk.

"Anytime," he replied as he turned to go. It was a momentary return to the relationship they had before she accepted the mark. They would both look back on this sliver of banter for the next few days and wish they could be relaxed around each other again.

"Wait, what was the fourth offer?" Hanabi suddenly remembered. "You said there were four being considered, but you only named three of them."

"It's not being taken seriously," he replied stiffly. She wanted to ask what it was but he had already left and Hanabi still couldn't walk to go after him.

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Author note: if you favorited this story or put it on alert please review. Two reviews for the same chapter isn't much feedback. Thanks if you did review though.


	4. the proposals

Hinata waited nervously in her room for Neji to report back. She winced. "Report back" made it sound like he was her servant. She paced back and forth, sat down abruptly then stood up again before sitting down. She wondered how Hanabi would take the news and she beat herself up for not being able to deliver it herself, but she new that Hanabi had always been closer to Neji—or at least that had been the case before the seal.

Ever since, the two had barely spoken to each other. Hinata knew that they still cared for each other but Neji was too wounded and livid to talk to her sister and Hanabi was not one reach out when she was rejected. Both lost their only real friend when the seal was put in place.

It was worse for Hanabi who, Hinata knew, was hated by the village on her behalf. Neji at least was admired and had teammates that tried to get close to him. Hinata had never met Hanabi's teammates before, which seemed strange to her considering their reputation. Knowing her sister, Hanabi had probably pushed them away.

Hinata folded her hands to form the sign of the seal and directed it at herself. The pain was so violent that her fingers flew apart the instant she felt it. She gasped in pain and clutched her head; her breaths were short and fast. She couldn't even speak. All she screamed was silence. She was crippled with paralyzing lightening shooting through her nerves. Minutes passed like decades and a half hour went by before she could breath normally again.

She waited a few more minutes before pulling herself up to look at the folders sprawled on her desk. They were evaluations of marriage proposals she would be expected to vote on later that day. She read the covers of the files again. Suna: Family of the Kazekage, political advantage. Inuzuka: Kiba, hereditary advantage. Uchiha: Sasuke, hereditary advantage. Hyuuga: Neji, internal eugenics advantage. Each file analyzed pros and cons of a potential union. The data made her sick to her stomach.

The Kazekage's family would mean either the Kazekage himself or his brother—political leverage that would insure the Hyuuga's dominance on the Konoha council. But it would also tie their fortunes to the will of an unpredictable Kazekage and the Hyuuga hated having people they couldn't control in the family. Kiba could be the first step in a chain of many more Inuzuka-Hyuuga matches that would acquire new sensory abilities for their bloodline but the Inuzuka were basically peasants. The Uchiha would father a Byakugan that could activate Sharingan but he refused to live in the compound or send any children he might father there for education. Then there was Neji, a strong shinobi who would beget strong offspring with an equally strong konoichi and who could be kept under perfect control.

She didn't know what to do. Hinata couldn't let her sister marry a psychologically unstable stranger from Suna, or someone who openly saw her as a tool to manufacture children. She had begged Kiba to propose to Hanabi after seeing the other proposals. Hinata knew Kiba wouldn't turn down her request. It hurt her to ask him since she knew he liked her, enough to do anything she asked, but she loved her sister and he was only a teammate.

He would be good to Hanabi and care for her, even if he didn't love her. He could do what Neji wanted to do for her sister but wouldn't be able to.


	5. the meeting

**Author Note: I, procrastinator extraordinary, have decided to update my least read story when I have 10 page reasearch paper due tomorrow that I'm only 4 pages done with. Please be forgiving, the following chapter was typed up in haste.**

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The Hyuuga elder's council met in a stuffy central room of the compound. Despite being surrounded by a courtyard the air in the room always felt stifling and stagnant. It was a perfectly square room with runic designs painted on to the wall which prevented the Byakugan's gaze from seeing inside and sound from leaking out. There was a rectangular ebony table that sat in the center of the room with ornate high backed chairs, all of them uniform except for one elaborate high backed throne at the head of the table where Hinata was sitting. (She had taken up the position of Head of the Family since her father was sent to work on an espionage case last month that related to a classified case he had worked on in his youth.) The other end of the table was empty and chair-less, it offered a view of the door so the clan head could see everyone coming in and leaving.

Hinata felt small in the chair, she couldn't help but think Hanabi would have cut a much more commanding and appropriate figure on the oversized throne. Hinata was taller than her sister still but she rarely ever felt it, and even her friends were often surprised when she and Hanabi stood side by side. Hinata chalked it up to Hanabi's presence—subtly threatening but coolly charismatic. It made Hanabi seem bigger than she was. A gong sounded from the corner of the room and branch house servants entered to start serving the tea ceremony that opened every meeting.

When it was over, the table was cleared and everyone spread their files on the table. An elderly uncle seated on the right of the table spoke first; he had been the default secretary of the elder's council for as long as anyone could remember. "We have on two main items to discuss on the agenda this week: first of all there is the important matter of voting on a suitor for Hanabi-san's betrothal, and secondly we must evaluate the progress of our clan's pre-genin. For the new temporary Family Head," he gestured to Hinata, "you may not be familiar since you went to the Academy, but the youngsters we train in the compound must go through a formal evaluation each year to prove we are teaching on par with the Academy." There were a few snickers around the room as he concluded. He hadn't meant to point it out mean spiritedly but only branch children were sent to the Academy, Hinata had been the only main family child ever to attend. She barely even registered the hushed ridicule, her main house cousins had prepared her for it by never letting her live it down.

"Now let's open up the floor to motions concerning the first matter, do we have any motions to be made?" the secretary asked.

A shriveled old aunt who Hinata had never seen open her eyes spoke up. "I motion that we not consider the Kazekage's proposal. This one is too unpredictable and intelligence says he may be justifiably insane. After what he did to Konoha during the Chunin exams I cannot in good conscience recommend it."

"I second that," came a reply from across the table, "the match isn't offering us a kekkai genkai after all."

"I third it," a raspy voice added, "can you imagine having our clan associated with that monster? It would be like having the Kyuubi boy as a son-in-law!" Hinata ducked her head down a little to hide what she felt in response. He had done great things for Konoha but they hadn't seen past their bias afterall.

"Motion passes," the secretary said, "proposal stricken from consideration."

"Now on to more interesting matches," another uncle said, "I for one favor that Uchiha. He's a bit of a mad one but he's the last of that line of blood and we wouldn't want to lose that."

An aunt interrupted, "who's to say we will! What other clan would he propose to? The Yamanaka's blood line breeds inconsistently and he won't want to take a chance with that, the Akamichi line is a useless combination with a doujutsu, the Nara kekkai genkai is too variable in power, and neither the Aburame not the Natsume have any eligible brides and the Inuzuka on principle won't accept!" She took a long breath after her hurried sentence before continuing, "We can put him on the shelf and see if our declaration of betrothal doesn't make him more desperate to win the bid by showing us some compliance."

"No," the uncle replied, "the time is now, we must secure this before he starts scouting for brides in other villages—we know ours is not the only ability he's been eyeing."

"Another village? That would be traitorous without a sanction and there's a fat chance the Hokage would let him after all the trouble he's caused already."

"Do you really think this one cares if he's a traitor? The village will thank us for keeping him somewhat under our thumb. He said he won't send any children he fathers to the compound but we can compel the bride to give them seals without his consent. Then in the future the children will be under our control, and thus, his clan will be." Murmurs of consent came from around the table.

Hinata felt disgusted and terrified. The elders spouted such things so easily. She shuddered a little, an almost an imperceptible tremor. Then she spoke up, "I r-really think we should consider the Inuzuka's offer. We'd have much l-less to worry about with their clan, they are loyal to the city and understand our customs are not negotiable."

She kicked herself mentally. She had stuttered twice, she thought she had kicked that habit long ago but there was no getting around being nervous with the elders, the people who had calculated every painful and terrible turn in the life of every family member.

"The young heir brings up a valid point." Hinata let out a tiny breath; the speaker continued. "Let us post-pone the vote until next week when Haishi is due back." It was unanimously agreed to and then the talk drifted to the pre-genins of the clan. The concern was that no records would be broken this year. The Hyuuga had a self imposed mandate of breaking at least one exam record, be it pre-genin, genin, chunin or jonin, every two years. They had not broken a record last year so this year they would have to break one or risk looking weak(in their opinion). They had three pre-genin up for exam, one genin and two jonin.

Hinata stopped listening and looked down at her sister's life spread out before her. She hoped he father would decide in favor of the Inuzuka although it was a bit of stretch. There were plenty of branch marriages that could be made to Inuzuka, and her own marriage would likely be to an Inuzuka since she must marry within the village now that she was a future clan head. Sasuke had made it clear he would not marry anyone below the top twentieth rank in the village and Hanabi was the only eligible Hyuuga.

Neji's folder sat on the table unnoticed.

Neji sat in his room staring in the direction of the hospital. Hanabi would be back tomorrow, Hinata had said she would notify him of the meeting verdict tonight. He knew he didn't have much of a chance but he had issued a proposal anyway. Hanabi had been like a little sister to him. To become her husband was the last way he could think of to protect her because only then would he be allowed to be with her as near to always as possible. To protect her from a trigger of the seal and to make sure her children were free—he had found a way. He didn't want her married to an unpredictable psychopath, someone who would take her off the mission roster so she could bare him a clan full of children, or a weakling who pined for her sister. He would take care of her, no matter what he heard from Hinata tonight because Hanabi was the only one he had ever considered family. If she must suffer marriage he would lessen the burden as much as possible.


	6. the pond

A shadow was cast on to her sleeping form and Hanabi jolted awake in the near silence, two kunai already hurling towards the figure in the window before her Byakugan was even blazing. Neji caught both easily and hopped down from the ledge. "Come on, we're going," he said quietly. He didn't dare say more because she would know in a second if he was lying and he wasn't sure if she would go if he told the truth.

She could tell he wouldn't answer "where," so instead she ask "why?"

"For your safety," he replied evenly. She sat up and was slid her legs over the edge of bed, and tried to put on shoes without jostling the splint. Neji rolled his eyes and picked her up, putting one arm under her back the other under her knee holding her splint in place. He easily lept from the window to the neighboring roof and then quickly headed south to the forest.

"Impatient aren't we?" Hanabi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course I am. You're slow." He deadpanned with annoyance. She couldn't help allow the slightest curve of her lips as she stifled a silent smirk, "you're the one who didn't crack your own speed record last year," she retorted. A scowl clouded his face for half a second before a reply came to him and the smirk set in "I'm also not the one who tripped Kurenai's trap and came second in my age group two years ago." Hanabi's cheeks flushed at the memory of what was possibly the most embarrassing moment in the life of any doujutsu user ever—it had been the most basic illusion and that's why she hadn't been looking for it. She simmered scarlet at the memory and threw a clumsy swat at him that he still managed to dodge carrying her. Hanabi looked away for the rest of the journey devising terrible ways to embarrass him in front of his teammates. She could feel Neji's triumphant condescending smirk through the whole way.

They came to a stopping in front of a lake.

"We're here," he said, putting her down carefully. She only had to look at the area once with her Byakugan still on to know there was pretty much nothing significant about the lake. "Thank goodness—I feel so much safer here," she replied sarcastically.

"You'll see," he said stepping on to the water. A cool breeze was moving tiny ripples of waves across it. Neji walked with such perfect control he didn't even disturb them. Hanabi stood and followed him. When they got to the center Neji stopped and turned to her. He looked at her very calmly and said "I want you to activate the cursed seal on me."

Hanabi's eyes narrowed. "No," she said with deadly firmness and she aimed a chakra loaded punch at his face because he was being stupid and crazy and he was supposed to be Neji. He was faster and he caught her wrist just before her fist his his face, but not fast enough to avoid a searing wisp of blue flame.

Still he held it there let it sear him, not bothering to shut the chakra channel in the wrist he was holding."Trust me," he said evenly, "this will free me." She looked at him hard and the chakra in her fist lowly burned away. He was serious.

He explained now without being asked. "Only the main house is taught those hand seals. Why?"

"A branch member is not allowed to have power over another," she replied.

"Right. And what kind of power do you think those hand seals have?" he asked.

A silence hung between them for a moment as he waited for the realization to hit her.

"You think if the seal is performed by a branch house member on another branch member releases them," she said. He nodded slowly. "Fine," Hanabi said. This was going a lot more smoothly than Neji thought-until she said, "I'll teach it to you and you test it on me first."


End file.
